September 30th-October 4th

As we welcome a new month and a new season, we are slightly changing up our daily schedule.

*Math: This week in math, some students will be finishing up the money, while others will begin place value.

*Reading: In addition to talking more about the Zones of Regulation and new tools that we can use to adjust our behavior to get us ready to learn, the students will continue to read their independent novels.  Students will be journaling, summarizing, identifying the five story elements, and character feelings from their novels, which will prepare them for the book report that will follow.

 

*RtI Reading: Beginning Monday, students will be having Read Naturally during this time.  They will receive their new stories and will continue to practice them throughout the week.  We then will read two reader's theaters plays during the rest of the week.  "Who is Stronger?" and "Fiddle-Diddle".  Our focus will be on fluency and comprehension.

*Language Arts: Writer's Notebook has been moved to our Language Arts time.  We will be writing each day before practicing our spelling.

Have a wonderful week!

September 23-September 27th

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week!

Here is a look at next week's curriculum.

*Math: This week will be our last week of this semester practicing money skills.  Students will be adding multiple prices together, determining change, and even using checkbook skills to "pay bills".

*Reading: We will continue the Genre unit that we began last week.  We will talk specifically about fiction genres and begin reading our first fiction novels of the year by Friday.

*RtI Reading: We will begin our final book in our world culture unit: Breakfast Around the World.  Students will be learning about traditional breakfast foods in seven different areas of the world.  They will also be comparing and contrasting our breakfast traditions with those in other countries.  We will even be sampling a few of these new foods! :)

*Language Arts:  Students will receive a new set of spelling words and choosing a new Read Naturally story for the week.  The goal is both fluency and comprehension with both the text and vocabulary.

*Social Studies: (7/8th Only) We are beginning our mini-unit on Ancient Egypt this week!  We will be learning facts about their culture, architecture, geography, pharaohs, mummies, and additional contributions that still affect our lives today.

Here is a picture of our Ancient Mesopotamian catapult that we recreated in class today!  How fun!

**Dates to Remember**

-11:30am dismissal on Friday, September 27th

Have a wonderful weekend!

September 16th-September 20th

We have an exciting week ahead in Room 117!

This week, we will begin to introduce the Zones Of Regulation!  This is a program designed to help students to independently recognize and regulate their emotions.  The four zones where our emotions fall are the Blue Zone (where students may feel tired, bored, sad, sick, hurt, etc.); the Green Zone (where students are ready to learn, happy, relaxed, focused, etc.); the Yellow Zone (where students may feel nervous, overwhelmed, annoyed, silly, confused, etc.); and the Red Zone (where students may feel angry, mad, terrified, elated, out of control, etc.).  The goal for all students is to regulate their emotions into the Green Zone where they are the most ready to learn.  We will be teaching students strategies and tools for regulating their emotions where they are in each zone and practice using these "tools" in daily situations.  In each weekly blog, I will include our "Tool of the Week" and any other important information about this program.

*Reading:  In reading this week, we will begin discussing the purposes of writing and learn about the genres towards the end of the week.  We will talk about each of these genres and view/read examples of each: historical fiction, fable, legend, fiction, biography, fantasy, science fiction, myth, and nonfiction.
*RtI Reading:  In continuation with our non-fiction unit, we will read Games Around the World this week and compare/contrast the various traditions around with world.
*Math: This week, we are focusing on the $1, $5, $10, and $20 bills.  We will practice determining how much money to pay for example purchases and continue to add and subtract money.
*Language Arts: Students will receive both a new Read Naturally story and new spelling words this week.
*Social Studies (7-8th grades only):  We are starting our Ancient Civilizations unit on Monday.  This unit will take us into the month on October.  We will begin discussing Mesopotamia and complete several hands-on activities to display what it was like to get water, food, and shelter in ancient times.

*Reminders*
-Thursday, September 19th: Walking trip to CVS pharmacy (Students can bring money with them if they would like to purchase a snack at the store.)

Have a wonderful weekend!

September 9th-September 13th

Students have all worked really hard this week to begin the MAPs testing!  Some students will still be finishing up the first two days of the week so be sure to eat a healthy breakfast and get a good nights rest!

Here is a look at next week's lessons...
*Math: Students will begin to complete their Daily Oral Math first thing each morning.  This will continue to be the routine for the remainder of the school year.  We will continue to focus on money this week and practice adding and subtracting decimals/money values.
*Reading: This week we will be incorporating the story elements into our writing.  Students will begin using a graphic organizer to create the characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution for their own stories.  They will use class time during the remainder of the week to write their stories in paragraph form.  Students will have the option to write either a fiction or nonfiction story.
*Language Arts: Students will choose a new story for Read Naturally and work using this story all week.  Students will also receive a new set of spelling words.
*7/8 Social Studies:  We will be putting the map skills we learned last week into practice this coming week.  Using a map of the school, we will be completing, and then creating our own, scavenger hunt!

*Reminders*
Wednesday, September 11th from 7-9pm


Have a great weekend!